Introduction to Pastoral Care and Counseling: Care for Stories, Systems, and Self TMPS7093.01 2 credit course1
Rev. Philip Browning Helsel, PhD, BCC Summer Institute 2015 First Session: July 20th, 2014July 31st, 2014. 8:3011:45 Office hours by appointment Contact information: [email protected]; 6175526524
Course Description:
In this introduction to pastoral care and counseling, you will reflect on the discipline of pastoral care as a charism for the whole people of God that can be practiced in empowering and teachable ways. The course is influenced by narrative therapy and thus begins with a storybased approach; it explores how systems can nourish pastoral care and be transformed by it; and it offers selfcare resources including guidelines for ethical ministry and referral. Through journaling, written reflection, class discussion, and a final integrative paper, you will explore the theological horizons of pastoral care and counseling, including the interface between counseling ministry and sacramental ministry. Considered a foundational course in pastoral care and counseling for persons working in a variety of contexts, it will address the particular topics of family counseling, crisis ministry, end of life care, brief therapy, and professional ethics, teaching pastoral care not simply as the application of theology but as a distinctive source of theological knowledge.
Objectives: By the end of the course you will be able to—
(Theological) Consider the significant continuities and differences between pastoral care and counseling and make efforts to discern God’s presence within each.
(Methodological) Engage particular ministry and brief pastoral counseling scenarios using narrative, family systems, and psychodynamic approaches to pastoral care and counseling.
(Practical) Assess the risk of domestic violence, abuse, and suicide, and have resources at hand to respond to these crises.
(Personal) Cultivate empathic imagination, developing attention to your own anxious responses to another’s distress and learning how to care for this anxiety.
1 If the student needs the course to count for a three credit class, she or he can petition the instructor for a further assignment. The additional assignment for this class will be reading the full text of Pamela Cooper White’s second edition of The Cry of Tamar: Violence Against Women and Church’s Response and writing a three page singlespaced reflection essay. Revised March 23, 2015. 2
(Ethical) Evaluate ethical practices in pastoral care ministry, including planning for effective referral and followup.
In addition to these stated objectives, a part of the first session will be devoted to helping you develop three objectives of your own, not shared with the instructor, that you can use to guide your participation in the course.
Engagements:
Role Playing: This class will include scripted and improvised role plays with your colleagues in which you will cultivate pastoral imagination and attend to your own responses to pastoral care scenarios. Often we can only explore our own impulsive reactions to others by having a mirror for these responses. Rather than exemplifying ‘expert’ pastoral care, through these exercises you will ‘workshop’ pastoral care in order toward the goal of developing self awareness and counseling wisdom.
Critical Reflection Papers: Every two weeks you will write a onepage single spaced reflection paper. Please bring the printed version of the paper to class to use in the discussion and then submit the hard copy to the instructor at the end of the class. This will be a review of the important themes from the text that connect with your own experience/context for ministry. About twothirds of the paper should be used for a critical review of the most important themes of the reading and the final third can be used to reflect on your own ongoing questions from the reading or provoke further questions that the texts have raised for you (see Reflection Paper Rubric below for grading schematic). Each paper should include some engagement with the primary theme of the text. For this paper you should focus on one, or at most two of the readings for the week and only the required reading. Do not write on the supplemental or recommended readings for the week. If there are multiple chapters assigned, choose one, or at most two chapters on which to write. If a reading is bolded, I require you to write on that reading for that particular week. You cannot do extra papers early in the semester to avoid writing later.
First paper: July 21st or July 22nd Second paper: July 23rd or July 24th Third paper: July 27th or July 28th Fourth paper: July 29th or July 30th Revised March 23, 2015. 3
Final Paper: If you choose a paper, you will write a ten to twelve page doublespaced paper that will address a particular problem or topic presented in the course materials of particular interest to you. In the first two thirds of the paper you will illustrate how the readings illuminate the dynamics of the problem or topic and, in the final third of the paper, you will evaluate how the problem or topic can be addressed in ways that lead to spiritual growth, empowerment, and social transformation (35% of grade). You should use the “NotesBibliography” Style of footnotes from the seventh edition of Kate L. Turabian’s A Manual for Writers (Chicago: University of Chicago, 2007) to format your paper (see pages 141215). Submit your paper to Blackboard and/or email it to your instructor on August 3rd 2015, at 6 PM (no hard copies necessary).
1. Description of the problem or topic using course readings. In the first twothirds of the paper you will describe a problem or topic in a particular context of ministry or nonprofit work that can be suitably illuminated by one or several of the course readings. Describe the problem in its context and draw it into conversation with readings from the course. It is important to supplement this discussion with outside resources that inform your work on this topic. In this descriptive section be certain to address the specific links between the course reading and the problem you are analyzing and show why these links are significant, building a case as to why the particular theoretical framework you propose is helpful.
2. Propose how the problem or topic can be addressed in ways that lead to spiritual growth, empowerment, and social transformation. In the final third of the paper make a constructive proposal that explicates a way forward in regards to this particular problem. If it is a particularly severe and intractable problem your proposal need not pretend to be definitive, but could acknowledge its limitation and still claim to be worthwhile. I am looking for you to integrate the themes of the course toward a concrete proposal for how a problem can be addressed in more beneficial ways that demonstrate that your approach could be improved by interacting with the course material.
This could be a problem or topic that you have faced personally, provided you feel capable of analyzing it in an academic context. Your papers will be held in confidence and destroyed at the end of the semester. Nevertheless, if you have a question about how much to share, err on the side of sharing less. The problem or topic that you choose to focus on could arise from your own ministry experience, from a community that you have witnessed or worked in, or from a community where you expect to work. If your own pastoral work has been limited thus far, it could also be ‘ripped from the headlines,’ a community care or pastoral care problem that is not being adequately addressed by society and needs our attention. Revised March 23, 2015. 4
Inclusive Language:
In all your writing please use genderneutral language for humankind and for God. This can be done by writing “humankind” or “persons” rather than “mankind” and stating simply “God” or “Godself” rather than “He,” “Him,” or “His.”
Participation: A large part of pastoral ministry is simply showing up and respectfully engaging in relationships. As we learn about pastoral care and counseling it is important that we develop an environment that respects a diversity of opinions and promotes honest expression of differences. To this end, class participation is graded in the following ways. 1. Participation in class activities and discussions 2. Evidence that you have read and are able to engage the readings for the day 3. Minimal distractions such as internet use, emailing, or Facebooking during class (15% of grade).
Grades:
Reflection Papers (35%)
Final Paper/Presentation (50%)
Participation (15%) Revised March 23, 2015. 5
Grading:
A = 10095; A = 9490; B+ = 8987; B = 8683; B = 8280; C+ = 7977; C = 7673; C = 7270 Revised March 23, 2015. 6
Below are the Rubrics I will use to grade your work.
Critical Reflection Paper:
Content: Demonstrated a thorough grasp of the reading material including an ability to sort out its important themes and present them succinctly
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
Style: Employed an adequate use of grammar, diction, style; proper use of parenthesis after a direct quote; and professional appearance of work.
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
Critical Thinking: Offered a ‘birds eye view’ of the readings themes in ways that suggested a grasp of the context of the author’s argument and suggested directions for future exploration.
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
Summative Grade (5 being highest, 1 being lowest): ______Successful completion of the criteria of these rubrics guarantees a satisfactory grade, but does not necessitate earning an excellent grade.
Final Paper:
Content: Demonstrated a thorough grasp of the material including an ability to sort out its important themes.
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
Application: Exemplified an ability to bring the course material into an interpretive relationship with a practical situation.
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
Style: Employed an adequate use of grammar, diction, style; proper use of footnotes; and professional appearance of work.
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
Analysis: Showed an ability to conceptualize and define the topic, presenting alternate viewpoints and implementing appropriate methodologies.
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
Critical Thinking: Revised March 23, 2015. 7
Moved the discussion forward in some substantive way by synthesizing the material, analyzing points of convergence and divergence, and offering probing questions for future explorations.
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
Summative Grade (5 being highest, 1 being lowest): ______
Supports for Students: Revised March 23, 2015. 8
Assistance with Writing: Students are encouraged to make use of the resources available at the STM and BC to support graduate academic writing. These resources are available to both national and international students with a variety of academic writing backgrounds. The Writing Companions Corner in Room 213 has a sign up sheet for tutorials. Likewise, The Connors Family Learning Center at O’Neill library is available to students. http://www.bc.edu/libraries/help/tutoring.html
For Students with Disabilities: If you have a disability and will be requesting accommodations for this course, please register with either Kathy Duggan ([email protected]) Associate Director, Academic Support Services, the Connors Family Learning Center (learning disabilities and ADHD) or Paulette Durrett ([email protected]), Assistant Dean for Students with Disabilities (all other disabilities). Advance notice and appropriate documentation are required for accommodations.
Academic Integrity Policy: Plagiarism is the act of taking the words, ideas, data, illustrations, or statements of another person or source, and presenting them as one’s own. Penalties at Boston College range from a grade penalty to dismissal from the University. To avoid plagiarism, any use of another’s words or ideas must be fully cited. If in the original wording, quotation marks or blocked, indented quotations must be used. For more information regarding plagiarism and other violations of academic integrity, please consult the STM website at http://www.bc.edu/content/bc/schools/stm/acadprog/stmserv/acadpol.html .
Professional Confidentiality and Mandatory Reporting: All students must agree to abide by professional confidentiality in all matters, which means that they will preserve anonymity by disguising the identity of cases when seeking consultation and case reporting. Student disclosures to one another and to the professor will remain confidential, unless the law requires otherwise. In all cases, students must be aware of the mandatory reporting laws of the state in which they provide professional caregiving. If they are designated pastoral caregivers within their religious tradition, they need to also be aware of what their religious organization requires. If students have reason to suspect or have firsthand knowledge of recent, current, or ongoing child abuse or neglect perpetrated on a child currently under the age of 18 years, elder abuse, sexual and domestic violence, or threats of homicide or suicide in any of the pastoral situations they use for fulfilling the requirements of this course they need to seek immediate consultation with supervisors, denominational leaders, and the professor of this course so that proper reporting procedures can be ascertained. We will work together to establish an appropriate pastoral relationship with all parties facing these crises. http://www.malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXVII/Chapter119
Course Readings: Revised March 23, 2015. 9
Care for Stories July 20th: Introduction to Course’s Themes, Expectations, and Goals.
July 21st: Resources within people’s stories—Please read these texts ahead of the first class. Kornfeld, Ch. 1, “A Time of Change,” pp. 314; Donald Capps, Living Stories, Chs. 12, pp. 152, “Counseling in the Congregational Context, and “The Stories Clients Tell”; Kornfeld, Ch. 2, Kornfeld, ch. 3, “Caregiver, Counselor, Yourself as Gardener,” pp. 45 65; Frank Thomas and Jack Cockburn, CompetencyBased Counseling, ch. 3, “A Map for CompetencyBased Counseling Part I: Getting Oriented,” pp. 3964.
July 22nd: Strategic Care of stories Kornfeld, Ch. 4, 6, “Guide to Facilitating Change,” pp. 114144; “Change Supported by the SolutionFocused Method,” pp. 6990; pp. 114144; Michael White, Maps of Narrative Practice, ch. 1., “Externalizing Conversations,” pp. 959; Reflections on Narrative Practice, “ReEngaging History: The Absent But Implicit,” pp. 3558.
July 23rd: Making Meaning in Loss Melissa Kelley, Grief, Ch. 1 “Contemporary Topics in Grief,” and Ch. 3, “Attachment Theory and Attachment to God”; John Swinton, Dementia, Ch. 4, “Moving Beyond the Standard Paradigm: From Defectology to Relationships.”; Browning Helsel, ch. 3.
Care for Systems: July 24th: Couples Counseling and Family Care Kornfeld, ch. 2, “The Ground of Community,” Kornfeld, ch. 7, “Care and Counseling at Life’s Many Beginnings,” p. 147187; Ronald Richardson, Becoming a Healthier Pastor.
July 27th: Crisis Care and the Daily Crises of Injustice Kornfeld, Ch. 9, “Care and Counseling in Life’s Daily Round,” Browning Helsel, Introduction; pp. 230277; Sheryl KujawaHolbrook and Karen Montagno, Injustice and the Care of Souls, Ch. 26, “Love and Power: Antiracist Pastoral Care,” “Engaging Diversity and Difference,” “Pastoral Care with African American Women,” “Pastoral Care from the Latino/a Margins,” North American Asian Communities,” pp. 1388
July 28th: Integrating Sexuality & Spirituality Across Differences Philip Culbertson, “Counseling Gays and Lesbians,” in Caring for God’s People; Deborah Rudacille, Ch. 1, “Hands of God,” and Ch. 6, “Childhood Interrupted.”
Care for Self: July 29th: Ethics, Boundaries, and Appropriate Referral Revised March 23, 2015. 10
Kornfeld, ch. 102, “Tending Yourself,” pp. 281305; Richard Gula, Just Ministry.
July 30th: Ch. 11, “Distinguishing ministry and church work,” Bill Golderer and response by Deborah Hunsinger, p. 136148; from Insights from the Underside ed. Neal Presa. Becoming Less Boring by Letting Yourself Be Bored Robert C. Dykstra, Discovering a Sermon, chs. 13, “Playing with the Text,” “Playing Witness to Life,” “Playing with Strangers,” pp. 11104. July 31st: Listening to Yourself, Listening to Others Kornfeld, ch. 3, “Caregiver, Counselor, Yourself as Gardener,” pp. 4565; Mary Jo Meadow, “Four Stages of Spiritual Experience: A Comparison of the Ignatian Exercises and Jungian Psychotherapy,” Pastoral Psychology pp. 175191.
Texts for purchase (listed in the order in which they will be read):
Kornfeld, Margaret (2001). Cultivating Wholeness: A Guide to Care and Counseling in Faith Communities. New York: Continuum. ISBN: 9780826412324.
Kelly, Melissa (2010). Grief: Contemporary Theory and the Practice of Ministry. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. ISBN: 9780800696610.
Richardson, Ronald (2004). Becoming a Healthier Pastor: Family Systems Theory and the Pastor’s Own Family. Minneapolis: Augsburg. ISBN: 9780800636395.
KujawaHolbrook, Sheryl, and Karen Montagno (2009). Injustice and the Care of Souls: Taking Oppression Seriously in Pastoral Care. Minneapolis: Fortress. ISBN: 978 0800662356.
Gula, Richard (2010). Just Ministry: Professional Ethics for Pastoral Ministry. Paulist Press. ISBN: 9780809146314.
Additional chapters and articles listed in the order in which they will be read (scanned and available through Blackboard):
Donald Capps (1998), Living Stories: Pastoral Counseling in Congregational Context. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. ISBN: 9780800630737. Chs. 12, pp. 152, “Counseling in the Congregational Context, and “The Stories Clients Tell.”
Michael White (2007), Maps of Narrative Practice. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN: 9780393705164. ch. 1., “Externalizing Conversations,” pp. 959 Revised March 23, 2015. 11
Michael White (2000), Reflections on Narrative Practice: Essays and Interviews. Adelaide, Australia: Dulwich Centre. ISBN: 9780957792913. Ch 3, “Re Engaging History: The Absent But Implicit,” pp. 3558.
Philip Culbertson, “Counseling Gays and Lesbians” p. 190217, in Caring for God’s People: Counseling and Christian Wholeness. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000.
Deborah Rudacille, “The Hands of God,” “Childhood Interrupted,” p. 320; 192225, in The Riddle of Gender: Science, Activism, and Transgender Rights. New York: Pantheon Books, 2005.
Mary Jo Meadow (1989), “Four Stages of Spiritual Experience: A Comparison of the Ignatian Exercises and Jungian Psychotherapy,” Pastoral Psychology (Vol. 37, 3 Spring) p. 175191.
Ch. 11, “Distinguishing ministry and church work,” Bill Golderer and response by Deborah Hunsinger, p. 136148; from Insights from the Underside ed. Neal Presa, Broadmind Books. Becoming Less Boring by Letting Yourself Be Bored Robert C. Dykstra, Discovering a Sermon, chs. 13, “Playing with the Text,” “Playing Witness to Life,” “Playing with Strangers,” pp. 11104.
Supplemental Articles (not required): Available through Blackboard.
Peter Tyler (2010), “The Catholic Mystical Tradition as a Guide to Contemporary Pastoral Care,” Keeping Faith in Practice: Aspects of Catholic Pastoral Theology, James Sweeney, Gemma Simmonds, and David Lonsdale (eds.), London: SCM Ch. 12., pp. 194212.
Philip Browning Helsel (2007), “Warren Zevon’s The Wind and Ecclesiastes: Searching for Meaning at the Threshold of Death,” Journal of Religion and Health (Vol. 46. No. 2 p. 205218).
Philip Browning Helsel (2009), “Liminality in Death Care: The Grief Work of Pastors,” Journal of Pastoral Care and Counseling (Vol. 63, No. 3,4, http://journals.sfu.ca/jpcp/index.php/jpcp/rt/printerFriendly/100/0, p. 18).
Bruce Morrill, “Christ the Healer: An Investigation of Contemporary Liturgical, Pastoral, and Biblical Approaches,” edited by Bruce T. Morrill, Joanna E. Ziegler, and Susan Rodgers, p. 115129.
Philip Culbertson, “Divorce Counseling,” p. 159189, in Caring for God’s People: Counseling and Christian Wholeness. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000. Revised March 23, 2015. 12
Additional Bibliograpy: Important Fundamental Pastoral Care Texts:
John Patton: Pastoral Care in Context http://www.amazon.com/PastoralCareContextAnIntroduction/dp/0664229948
Emmanuel Lartey: In Living ColorIntercultural Pastoral Care http://www.amazon.com/InLivingColorInterculturalCounseling/dp/1843107503
Carrie Doehring: The Practice of Pastoral Care—many of the case studies were from this text. http://www.amazon.com/ThePracticePastoralCarePostmodern/dp/0664226841
Robert Dykstra: Images of Pastoral Care http://www.amazon.com/ImagesPastoralCareRobertDykstra/dp/0827216246
Donald Capps: Giving Counsel One of the better intellectual surveys with practical applications. http://www.amazon.com/GivingCounselAMinistersGuidebook/dp/082721247X
Pastoral Care & Spiritual Direction:
Jean Stairs: Listening for the Soul: Pastoral Care and Spiritual Direction. http://www.amazon.com/ListeningSoulPastoralSpiritualDirection/dp/0800632397
Regius Duffy: Catholic Pastoral Care—This book is not especially good, but I include it for your information: http://books.google.com/books/about/A_Roman_Catholic_theology_of_pastoral_ca.html ?id=vqrNXFnkbN0C
Deborah van Deusen Hunsinger: Pray without Ceasing. http://www.amazon.com/PraywithoutCeasingRevitalizingPastoral/dp/0802847595
Groundbreaking New Books in Pastoral Care: Greg Ellison: Cut Dead, But Still Alive: Caring for AfricanAmerican Young Men. http://www.amazon.com/CutDeadButStillAlive/dp/142670304X
Melinda McGarragh Sharp: Misunderstanding Stories: Towards a PostColonial Pastoral Theology. http://www.amazon.com/MisunderstandingStoriesPostcolonialPastoral Theology/dp/1610972260 Revised March 23, 2015. 13
Important additional texts:
Jeannette Rodriguez: Our Lady of Guadalupe http://books.google.com/books/about/Our_Lady_of_Guadalupe.html?id=Fwtjf64nn6AC
Joretta Marshall—Counseling Lesbian Partners. http://www.amazon.com/CounselingLesbianPartnersPastoral Theology/dp/0664255329
Joretta Marshall, et al.—Practicing Care in Rural Congregations and Communities. http://store.fortresspress.com/store/productgroup/583/PracticingCareinRural CongregationsandCommunities
Pamela Cooper White The Cry of Tamar: Violence Against Women and the Church’s Response http://www.amazon.com/TheCryTamarViolenceResponse/dp/080062730X
Trauma:
Jon AllenHope Through Understanding: Coping with Trauma http://www.amazon.com/CopingWithTraumaThroughUnderstanding/dp/1585621692
Babette Rothschild: The Body Remembers http://www.amazon.com/TheBodyRemembersPsychophysiology Professional/dp/0393703274
Nancy PinedaMadrid: Suffering and Salvation in Ciudad Juarez. http://www.amazon.com/SufferingSalvationCiudadJuarezPineda madrid/dp/0800698479
Shelly Rambo: Spirit & Trauma http://www.amazon.com/SpiritTraumaATheologyRemaining/dp/0664235034
Storm Swain: Trauma and transformation at Ground Zero http://www.amazon.com/TraumaTransformationGroundZeroPastoral/dp/0800698053
Jennifer Erin Beste: God and the Victim. http://books.google.com/books?id=qd8uif2SI EC&pg=PR4&lpg=PR4&dq=jennifer+beste+god+and+the+victim&source=bl&ots=Q cYdsSoyzE&sig=D2oYSlHKJkfPMZ137Do4pIjFtJs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KKm0U8DKOde fyASFgIHIDg&ved=0CFcQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=jennifer%20beste%20god%20and %20the%20victim&f=false
Addiction: Revised March 23, 2015. 14
David Sheff: Clean http://www.amazon.com/dp/0544112326
Carl Hart: High Price http://www.amazon.com/HighPriceNeuroscientistsSelfDiscoveryChallenges ebook/dp/B009NF75MY
Queer StudiesLGBT thought
Michel FoucaultHistory of Sexuality vol 1 http://www.amazon.com/TheHistorySexualityVolIntroduction/dp/0679724699
Eve Kosofsky SedgwickEpistemology of the Closet http://www.amazon.com/EpistemologyClosetEveKosofskySedgwick/dp/0520254066
Mark JordanTelling Truths in Church: Scandal, Flesh, and Christian Speech. http://www.amazon.com/TellingTruthsChurchScandalChristian/dp/0807010553
Dale MartinSex and the Single Savior http://www.amazon.com/TellingTruthsChurchScandalChristian/dp/0807010553
Counseling: Pamela Cooper White Shared Wisdom: The Use of the Self in Pastoral Counseling. http://www.amazon.com/SharedWisdomPamelaCooperWhite/dp/0800634543
John Patton: Pastoral Counseling: A Ministry of the Church http://www.amazon.com/PastoralCounselingAMinistryChurch/dp/1592440304
Deborah ven Deusen Hunsinger: Theology and Pastoral Counseling: A New Interdisciplinary Approach. http://www.amazon.com/TheologyPastoralCounselingInterdisciplinary Approach/dp/0802808425